Literacy Stations Begin!!!!

Today was a very exciting day for the Kindergartners because today was the first day of Literacy Stations!  Literacy Stations is about 30 minutes each day 3 days a week.  That equals out to 2 stations per day your child will be going to.  During this time your child will be going to a specific station to work on specific targeted tasks.  Literacy Stations is an opportunity for your child's needs to be met at their own level.  Children can use this time to challenge their own learning.   A brief description of the stations is below.  Be sure to ask your child what stations they went to today.
1.Writing Station-Children will be practicing a handwriting, personal narratives, letters, post cards, lists,etc.  This can be an extension to what we are working on in Writer's Workshop or also allows children to practice their handwriting skills.
2. Word Work Station-Children will be working on different word work skills such as word families, rhyming, sounds, sight words, etc.
3. Bookmaking Station- At this station children will be making a book to add to their book box.  These books highlight sight words we are practicing.  When children are done making the book they may read out of their book box until time is up.
4. Library Station-At the library station children practice different skills such as working with fiction/mom-fiction books, finding specific words, reading specific themed books.  They will also be using different fun tools to help them read such as fun glasses, pointers, etc.  Today we used candy canes to point to the words we read in our books.

5. Listening Station- At this station children will be listening to a story on CD and then doing a response to it.  For example, this week children are listening to The Gingerbread Cowboy and then drawing 3 characters and labeling them from the story.

6. Read and Write the Room-At this station children will be going around the room with specific tasks that will be asking them to either read or write words they see in the room.  For example, their task may be to go around and make a list of all the 3-letter  and 4-letter words.  Or they may be asked to use pointers to find specific sight words and read them.  Today children used white boards to record words they saw in the room.

Here is our Literacy Station Board. This board tells each child which station they are starting at for the day.  The signs get rotated when we switch to the next station.  Each mini-sign matches with an exact larger sign in the room.  See below.  The larger sign is where the student works at or gets the materials needed to work at that station.

These two children are working on the Write the Room Station.  They are going around the classroom and recording letters and words that they find. 

The boys and girls in these pictures are at the Word Work Station.  They are looking at the picture on each gingerbread and determining what letter it starts with.  They are able to check their work immediately by using the spatula to flip over the gingerbread and see the answer.  The children then sorted the gingerbread into piles by their beginning sound. 

At the Library Station this week, the children read thier book box books and stories from our library with whisper phones and candy cane pointers. 

These kiddos are making a book at the BookMaking Station.  They color the illustrations, circle the sight word see, and then read the book at least 2 times with pointers or special reading glasses.  These books then go into thier book boxes to be read during Reading Workshop.

Domino Concentration with Boulan Buddies

Every Tuesday as you know our buddies from the Boulan Middle School come over to visit us in the morning.  Boulan buddies are wonderful!  They help us make crafts, run centers and play different learning games with us.  During our past two visits our buddies have played 2 different math games with us.  It is so helpful because the kiddos are working in a 1:2 ratio and at the most 1:3.  This helps to really individualize instruction for kids and to meet their needs at their different levels.  It also allows us to introduce a game to them so that next time they play they will be able to play on their own or with a partner without needing someone for guide them through it the whole time.  Thank you buddies!

A Magical Day at Bemis!

Two of the coveted prizes given out after the Jog-a-thon are Principal and Vice Principal of the Day.  These kids were given a budget of $1000 and were able to choose special things to do for the rest of the school.  In the morning, they brought a cart of bagels and pastries around to the hungry teachers.  We had  an assembly this morning where a guest from the Howell Nature came and taught us about different woodland animals.  They even had live animals for the children to observe.  The kiddos loved seeing the owl move it's head around and the flying squirrel dart around it's cage.  In the afternoon we had a very meaningful and hilarious character education assembly.  The kids learned about different character traits such as persistence, honesty, cooperation, etc.  The instructor made the lesson very entertaining with bits of magic and humor sprinkled in!  We ended our day with a Popsicle treat given to us by our principal and vice principal of the day. What a fun Tuesday!  We think that the kiddos did a great job filling Mr. Whan's shoes for the day! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was our Thanksgiving Singing Program and Party.  The boys and girls all looked so fancy dressed up!  They were very excited to stand on the risors and sing all of the songs for moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas, and our buddy classes.  We thought they did such a great job and were very proud of them!  We hope that you enjoyed the show! :) After the program we came back to our classrooms and the Kinderplus classes had their party together.  The kiddos were able to go back and forth to both rooms and do crafts, games, and eat yummy food.  Enjoy the pictures of our fun day!

Partner Reading

Today in Reading Workshop the boys and girls learned about Partner Reading.  Partner reading is a lot like Independent reading.  Children know that they are to stay in one spot, read the whole time, read quietly and get started right away.  They also know that they can read the pictures, read the words or retell the story.  Today we learned how to do all of these things with a reading partner.  They learned how to sit with their partner so that they could both see the words and their pictures.  The boys and girls practiced taking turns reading the pages and talking about the story.  While they were doing this I was able to walk around and check in with each group.  It was amazing to hear how engaged each child was in talking about the book with their partner.  They were talking about what they noticed in the illustrations, what their favorite part was and different words that they recognized.  I am so proud of how much they are growing as readers! :)

Retelling With Props

Today we read the stroy, "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Pie."  We talked about the repetive language of the story and how the author kept adding more and more as each page went on.  We are learning that another way to read is to retell the story.  Boys and girls know that when they are able to recall the events of a story in order from memory, it shows that they understood what they read.  We retold the story together on the smart board to practice this skill.  Then the boys and girls made little old ladies and props that they could use to tell the story.  As we used our tools to retell the story, boys and girls focused on using some of the language that they remembered from the book as well as remembering the correct sequence.  Retelling is an important reading skill and your child should get lots of practice! Have them retell the story using thier props at home.  You can also have them practice retelling with other books that you read.  When you have finished reading, you could ask them to tell you what happened in the beginning, middle and end of the book.  We are learning that good readers not only can read the words in books, but they can understand and talk about the story as well!  Happy Retelling!

Goofy Gobblers

Yesterday both Kinderplus classes did an art project with our Boulan Buddies.  We made goofy looking turkeys out of construction paper and googly eyes.  The kindergarten kids were shown how to do it and then the Boulan Buddies helped them in following those directions.  There was a lot of cutting involved in this project- which many kindergarten kiddos still need practice with.  We are so thankful to have middle school kids that can come assist with art projects!  These gobblers are hanging in the Kindergarten hallway.